The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of images, videos, and alternative text on a myriad of topics. I have diligently worked my way to forty-nine (!) ADA compliant research guides. The beauty of doing even the simple tasks of fixing broken hyperlinks and describing images is getting to take a few hours every week to examine some of our many library guides a little more closely. My favorite compliance guide this week was inarguably the “Black Panther” guide that needed some fresh links and alternative text. Doing work on this guide added to my extensive comic book reading list and also opened my eyes to the idea of using the research guides not only for academic endeavors but as an introduction to the wide variety of resources that may be of personal interest.
Today also yielded a new perspective. As I worked on the “World Religions” guide, Ted explained to me that in many of the religions listed on this guide, the physical placement of the hands in “praying hands” fashion is common during prayer. So when he initially created the guide, he gathered pictures of people from various religions praying in order to link a common physical trend among the religions outlined on the guide. This got me thinking about visual threads and how the most subtle poses and symbols translate across a wide audience.
In the coming weeks I will continue making my way through making the guides ADA compliant. I am looking forward to doing more miniature excursions into new topics like Norse mythology and Shakespeare’s Prince Hal and finding new visual commonalities.
Building Bridges 